POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive completes its limited engagement at Broadway's Sam S. Shubert Theatre August 14. Directed by Tony winner Susan Stroman, the production opened April 27 after beginning previews April 14. Twenty-eight year-old The Morning Show writer Selina Fillinger made her Broadway debut as the work's playwright.
The work's all-star cast includes Tony winner Julie White, Tony nominees Lilli Cooper and Vanessa Williams, Lea Delaira, Rachel Dratch, Julianne Hough, and Suzy Nakamura. Hough and Nakamura made their Broadway debuts with the production. Dratch and White received 2022 Tony Award nominations for their performances.
The work, a 2019 selection for the Killroys' List, is described as a "modern farce," centering on a PR nightmare that befalls the White House as seven female support staff risk everything to keep the commander-in-chief out of trouble. Cooper stars as Chris, DeLaria as Bernadette, Dratch as Stephanie, Hough as Dusty, Nakamura as Jean, White as Harriet, and Williams as Margaret.
Rounding out the company are understudies Anita Abdinezhad, Gisela Chípe, Jennifer Fouché, and Lisa Helmi Johnason. The production also features voiceovers from E. Clayton Cornelius, Richard Gatta, Pat Kiernan, Kevin Ligon, JC Montgomery, and Ari Shapiro.
POTUS features Tony Award-nominated scenic design by Beowulf Boritt, costume design by Linda Cho, lighting design by Sonoyo Nishikawa, sound design by Jessica Paz, hair and wig design by Cookie Jordan, fight and intimacy direction by Rocio Mendez, and make-up design by Kirk Cambridge-Del Pesche. Casting is by Taylor Williams, with Johnny Milani serving as production stage manager.
The play was produced on Broadway by Seaview, Lynette Howell Taylor's 51 Entertainment, Glass Half Full Productions, and Level Forward, along with Salman Al-Rashid, Runyonland Productions, Sony Music Masterworks, One Community, Jay Alix & Una Jackman, Jonathan DeMar, Imagine Equal Entertainment, Lucas Katler, David J. Lynch, Leonid Makaron, Liz Slager, Ted Snowdon, Natalie Gorman/Tisch Brennan Throop, and The Shubert Organization, with Mark Shacket serving as executive producer. Level Forward also served as impact producer, handling key partnerships with organizations supporting women running for office and voter registration.
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